Tripitaka - what is this? The biggest book in the world

Mankind has always striven to fix and transfer the accumulated experience and knowledge to the descendants. Now we know many sources of ancient creativity. One of them is the Tripitaka - it is rightly believed to be the largest book in the world. It contains legends, myths, as well as more practical information. Let's get acquainted with this prehistoric work in more detail.

Title: clarify an important issue

Sometimes people get confused about how to correctly pronounce: "Tipitaka" or "Tripitaka". Actually, it's easy to understand, if you understand the essence of this name. It is translated as "three baskets". That is the root of the word is a number. Therefore correctly pronounce the "Tripitaka". This is a collection that was created several millennia. According to legend, the name he received because of the fact that in ancient times, books were written on palm leaves. Scrolls sorted by content and placed in baskets. There were three in total. Hence also the figurative name of labor, which is one of the oldest libraries of wisdom.

The scientists also took care of explaining the name of the book. An idea was put forward that did not receive a worthy refutation. "Three baskets" mean not exactly tare. The authors had in mind the division of labor into topics. We can say that the Tripitaka is a kind of three-volume book, the material in which is strictly sorted and structured. The idea of the creators is understandable, since the composition of labor includes legends, legends, philosophical treatises, rules of behavior and the like. It is not good to throw everything in one heap. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the length of time the book was created. Worked different people for more than five millennia.

The Holy Book of Tripitaka: History

Experts claim that the present form of the book found in 80 BC. Grind it before this for five millennia. The texts were originally transmitted orally. They were collected and learned by monks. Naturally, they were modified, refined, supplemented with new details and lexical formulas. That is, Tripitaka is the result of collective creativity.

At some point, enthusiasts began to write down pieces of collected wisdom so that they were not lost. It is believed that the first of the baskets was filled with a peculiar set of rules for monks. We must understand that these people lived in very difficult conditions of shortage of food, water and everything necessary. The spiritual instructors of the monks were concerned with the question of how to create an ideal community. The developed rules are aimed at making people's lives comfortable and harmonious. That is, the Tripitaka's book was originally an unofficial Buddhist statute. The texts contain rules of conduct. Probably, this is the first collection of etiquette for a certain group of the population in the world.

Structure of the book

The Buddhist canon of the Tripitaka became the basis for the development of different schools. On its texts the founders of six directions of this religion rely. The first basket (part) contains rules for members of the community. They describe the process of admission to monks, confessions. In addition, some of the texts describe how to proceed in certain cases. For example, the rules of life during the rainy season, restrictions in clothing and the like.

The second part, the basket of teachings, consists of the statements of teachers. Most of it is occupied by the words of Buddha and his disciples. This section of Sutt-Pitaka is called. It contains valuable information about the traditions of ancient India, describes the life of the Buddha, his last days.

Abhidhama-Pitaka - the third part of the teaching is philosophical. It describes the meaning of the Buddhist doctrine of the world as a product of human consciousness. It is believed that these texts were written much later than the first two parts. Some branches of Buddhism do not recognize them as divine.

Why was this book created?

Buddhists for a long time confined themselves to oral creativity. Precisely no one now will explain why they decided to write down their laws. Most likely, it's about population growth. The number of believers increased, and this triggered the process of changing the texts attributed to the deity. The sacred books of the religions of the world (Veda, Avesta, Tripitaka) were created in order to preserve, not to lose the wisdom that people got in ancient times.

It's no secret that every person perceives information in their own way. A peculiarity of oral creativity is changeability, collective work to improve legends. One will add the word, the other will replace the more suitable one and so on. And the adherents of the Buddha considered it important to keep his statements untouched. Perhaps it was so when the writing arose. Legends and legends were shifted to palm leaves so that the descendants touched the truth, words that once came from the holy mouths.

Or maybe it's all outdated?

The modern reader has every right to be indignant: "Why study such old things?" Here the main thing is to get rid of pride and look into the described literature. Such sources of knowledge as the Bible, the Koran, the Tripitaka, are very different from modern books. It's all about the content. The thoughts set forth in the holy texts concern all possible aspects of a person's life. They remain relevant in our difficult century.

Thousands of people are interested in the same topics about the essence of the concepts of good and evil, about the ability to recognize deception, choose the path, resist temptation. Nothing changes. But in order to realize this truth, it is necessary to study several chapters.

The most important task was to ensure the safety of primary sources. And if the Bible and the Qur'an did not change much, other processes demonstrated Buddhism. Tripitaka is now known in various versions. Each school considers its own true.

"Reconciliation of hours"

It went so far that Buddhist leaders came to the conclusion that it was necessary to re-think the ancient texts. A successful attempt was made in 1871. A special Buddhist cathedral was held in Mandalay (now Burma), in the work of which about two and a half thousand monks took part. Everyone brought his version of the sacred book. Literally verified the letters literally. The aim of the work was to develop a unified version of the book. This did not stop there.

In order not to repeat the confusion and misunderstandings of the books, which at that time were still corresponded and translated by various authors, decided to translate wisdom into stone. The unified texts were cut out on marble slabs. In total, there were 729. Each plate was placed in a small separate temple. The place where the buildings are concentrated is called Kutodo. This is a kind of stone Buddhist library. Pilgrims flock here to touch the shrines.

Sutt Pitaka

Let's open the essence of the sections of Buddhist teaching. If the first part consists of rules of conduct, then the second has a slightly different orientation. As already mentioned, this section contains many quotations of the Buddha himself. In his speeches the teacher paid attention to stories about the superiority of the teaching, its difference from Brahmanism and popular superstition. Apparently, before our time people were more interested in spirituality than in obtaining food. Discussion about the correctness of the chosen path has reached us in the holy books of various religions. In Sutt Pitak, much attention is paid to reasoning about compassion, love for one's neighbor, the importance of keeping inner peace. But asceticism as a method of salvation is criticized. This section reveals myths about the creation of the world. The Buddha's earthly path, the circumstances of his death, is also described.

Abhidhama-Pitaka

The third, most controversial, basket is of great interest to the researcher. It contains philosophical reflections on the knowledge of the world. We perceive everything through our own sensations. According to the texts, this is the process of creating everything. That is, when perceiving external information, a person influences it. Everything in this universe is interconnected. You can not remain an outside observer. For example, paying attention to the plant or the flow of water, you are already beginning to interact with the process, to influence it. This part of the book deals with religious, philosophical and ethical issues of Buddhism. All citations contained in the section are attributed to the Buddha. However, some schools do not recognize this and refer the third basket to non-canonical literature. Hence the long dispute between the branches of Buddhism. For example, the Tripitaka of Tibet differs from the text of the book adopted in China.

Conclusion

The study of ancient texts is important for modern man. The bustle of everyday life does not leave him time to think about important things for the soul. It's amazing, but before our era people understood the importance of such arguments. Probably, at some point the direction of development of civilization has slightly shifted towards material. That's why the ancient texts remain relevant. For more than two millennia, mankind could not come up with anything fundamentally new in the field of spiritual research. We simply analyze the truths obtained by the ancients, we try to explain them more deeply, to reveal more in detail. It's like a catastrophe of civilization. We created electronics, we constantly improve weapons, and why we came to this world, we learn from books written in ancient times. What do you think, what can be said about humanity as a whole and its creative potential?